Emmerdale Farm in 1980
1980 was Emmerdale's 9th year. Storylines included Joe Sugden's appointment as Assistant Manager at Home Farm, Jack Sugden's return to the village, along with the return of Pat, Jackie and Sandie Merrick and Dolly Skilbeck's miscarriage. 86 episodes were broadcast this year. Production cast photo]] The 1979 ITV Strike ended on 24th October 1979, though Emmerdale Farm did not return until 8th January 1980. When it did, as with Coronation Street and Crossroads when they had returned from the strike, a monologue read by Sheila Mercier as Annie Sugden appeared over the introduction of the first episode. Rather than attempt to fill in the gaps for viewers however, the first six episodes of the programme from Episode 543 through to Episode 548 were set in the summer of 1979 using footage already filmed from before the strike. Episode 549 began with another monologue from Sheila as Annie, this time setting the scene in the present time. returns to Beckindale, now played by Clive Hornby.]] By the time episodes began to air again, Anne W. Gibbons had taken over as producer. Anne felt that the strength of the programme lay in the serial element and she set about replacing the shorter stories that featured temporary cast members and characters with longer arcs featuring permanent characters. As a result, characters were re-introduced with Stan Richards being promoted to a regular cast member as Seth Armstrong and former characters returning, albeit with new faces. Jack Sugden, Ruth Merrick, Jackie Merrick and Sandie Merrick all came back to Beckindale, now played by Clive Hornby, Helen Weir, Ian Sharrock and Jane Hutcheson respectively. Ruth Merrick had also received a new name as well as a new face - now to be known as Pat Merrick forever more. Interestingly, the first Emmerdale Farm novel penned by James Ferguson in 1977 also saw Ruth's name change to Pat - three years before this was written into the series. When she had last appeared, Ruth had also had a third child - Tommy Merrick, but upon her return as Pat, there was no mention of this second son and he was never referred to again. As Pat's husband, Tom Merrick, also returned to the programme later in the year, now played by Edward Peel, it was left to Hornby, Weir and Peel to build on foundations previously laid by other actors in order to make their recasts realistic. As more permanent characters were introduced, this meant more scenes away from Annie Sugden's kitchen and the Emmerdale farmhouse and, though few and far between at this point, shifting focus onto other characters would go on to play a vital role in the show later in the decade and into the 1990s. Another character to receive a makeover was Dolly Skilbeck as Jean Rogers took over the role from the Southern-based Katharine Barker who left the programme in order to spend more time with her husband and teenage son. Wanting to make a particular effort to make the transition as smooth as possible, crew members kept Dolly off air until April and hoped that when Rogers appeared on screen, the similarity between the actresses would mean that she would sneak in unnoticed with viewers unable to tell the change in casting. Needless to say, regular viewers did notice and Rogers would later refer to this period of the role as a challenge. The programme once again took a summer break lasting from mid-July until September. Episodes Main Cast Storylines to be added Who lives where to be added Awards and Nominations to be added Category:1980 Category:Emmerdale year-by-year